1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a controller for an electronic file system.
2. Related Background Art
A microfilm system has been used as an information storage system which manages a large volume of information for later utilization. A microfilm system is superior in economy, retainability and resolution power. It also has a high input speed and can rapidly copy a large volume of information. Further, it is suitable to efficiently store and manage file information which increases year by year.
On the other hand, office automation has been recently introduced rapidly. There has been a trend to introduce computers into office equipment and also to couple the equipment through communication lines. To comply with such trend of computerization and coupling through the communication lines, it is desirable that the information to be processed is stored in a form of an electrical signal. Thus, an electronic file system has been recently noticed. The electronic file system stores the information in the form of electrical signals and has characteristics of high speed retrieval and high speed transmission which are not found in the microfilm system.
The electronic system has the above characteristics and is well adapted to the recent trend of office automation but the microfilm system, is not well adapted to such a trend. It has a significant problem in that it is not compatible with computerized and communication linked office equipment.
However, the electronic file system has defects which eliminate some of the advantages of the microfilm system. It cannot convert the input information in a one-shot process as the microfilm system can do through a lens system but the information must be serially raster-scanned. As a result, an input speed is slow. An operator cannot check the input image without a special display. Large numbers of copies cannot be rapidly and ,economically produced. Long-term storage of information is not assured as compared to the microfilm system which assures the long-term storage of one hundred years. The electronic file is not accepted as a legal evidence as opposed to the microfilm.
A further problem is that when the electronic film system is introduced, the data base and information structured by using the microfilm system can no longer be utilized. As described above, the microfilm system and the electronic file system have their own advantages. From the standpoint of the recent trend of the office automation, the electronic file system has many advantageous features but it is apparent that the microfilm system cannot be ignored. Accordingly, an information storage system which utilizes the information stored in the microfilm and the advantage of the high retrieval speed of the electronic file system and which is adapted to a consolidated information management system having features of efficient retrieval, updating, editing and storing of information has been desired.
An electronic file system which photo-electrically reads an image of a microfilm, converts it to an electrical signal and stores it on an optical disk has been developed. However, in order to retrieve a desired image on the microfilm and record it on the optical disk, a complex control is required. If it is controlled by a host computer, the burden to the host computer is large and processing speed decreases.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show systems which computer-control an equipment such as a film reader. In such systems, only the keyboard for controlling the equipment or the host computer can access the film reader. Accordingly, when the host computer controls other units than the film reader, the film reader cannot retrieve a desired film frame and freedom of operability is restricted.